IOL wk5 Folio 1

https://youtu.be/AdaiQoIo2R4

For my work in Illusion of Life, I aim to create a collection of 2D animations that I can apply to my Studio 2 project. My studio 2 project is a pop-up book with AR experience. The aim of this project is to engage children and teenagers in learning about human trafficking.

I hope to explore on how 2D animation can be an appealing add in AR interactivity through the experiments in Illusion of Life. I use the characters I created in studio 1 for the experiments.
I aim to create a series of animation exercises that will help me exploring further on how 2D animation can be applied as responsive storytelling element. My experiments will focus on how to compose a cohesive narrative with short 2D animations and looping animations, responding to 3D environment in reality.

There are plenty excellent partitioners in the field of AR art and AR interactivity.

Marc O Matic is a Melbourne artist and animator, who creates his work combined both traditional illustrations and immersive technology. His works tell stories with illustrations in engaging ways.
In the referenced video, it is an AR art piece that Matic showcased in Melbourne Knowledge Week 2017. The looping animation shows an old tram assembled from the components off from the illustration and a funny scenario of the crowded vehicle.

Heather C. D. Smith is an interdisciplinary artist, who tells stories with interactive experiences. She works with AR to transform passive viewing experience into engaging interactivity. COVID-19 AR Elixir is an interactive piece she created when the pandemic hit the world. Smith put together different pieces of 2D animation in 3D place, as “experimental elixir”, with music and sound effect, to recreate the experience of body and mind being in the pandemic.

Yunuen Esparza’s works includes both 2D illustrations and 3D sculptures. She plays with viewer’s common perceptions and reveal the messages behind her works with augmented reality. In her Between two worlds series, Yunuen created different portraits in this art series. By using augmented reality, Yunuen reveal the representations of dream, strength, patience and passion within the characters.

Ideation & Testing

Experiment 1
In my first experiment, I tried to create looping animations that work in physical 3D space
I applied the character designs I’ve got from Studio 1 and worked with them in ToonBoom. I created the walking cycle and idle poses for the characters.The first test successfully functioned in EyeJack.

The characters are somewhat interacting with the physical 3D space, but not quite visible. To emphasize the connection between the characters and space, some possible approach can be the characters interacting with the pop-up arts or interact with each others.

While the animation works in AR, the characters movements are rushing through, which is not the result I intended to have. I was still finding my way around ToonBoom. In order to create a storytelling vibe, It would be helpful to adjust the movements, with more keyframes, to a slower the pace.

Experiment 2
In my second experiment, I created a short scenario, where the characters interacted with each other and space. I was experimenting with keyframes and trying to show some characteristics with the pace of actions and responses.I also experimented with character sizes and used size contrast to create a sense of foreground and background.

In terms of timing, I experiment how the sprite being absent then reappear created a sense of continuousness, where the character making her way down the bridge outside of the scene.
However, the “break” between the character disappearing and reappearing was not long enough to create a good sense of her traveling down by the water.

I experiment on the timing for the characters reacting and interacting with others, which can be an add for showing different characteristics. I’m satisfied with each characters behaviors in the scene. However, each gestures does not last long enough and also with no breather for forming better characteristic impressions.

Some approaches to refine my result could be, in addition to gestures, adding sound effect to the characters to better portrait the personality, or giving more responding time in between for the characters and also the viewers.

Experiment 3
For my 3rd experiment, I apply sound effect, voice over and background music to show characteristics and create storytelling vibe.

I experimented on these three different sound elements and tried to find a balance between the contrast of volumes and timing. The result I achieved reminds me of the stop-motion animation, Pingu.
I considered the sound effect is a good add for better portraying the characteristics. I managed to find a fairly ok balance between volumes of three different sound elements. However, the downside of using licensed music is that it does not fully complement your project narrative.

It would be a better approach if I could work with a sound designer. With this experiment, I also acknowledge that I should get my hands on a draft voiceover recording so that I can better scoping the time length for the animation. I would like to explore further with the sound effect. As for now, the sound effect only serves as a part of the character, I should also think about how sound can be applied to invite the viewer for further interactions.

Refelectin and further exploration

In the second half of the folio, I aim to create animation shorts that are narrative focused. I will start picking up Storyboard to create animatics for the scenes for my Studio 2 project. This practice should be a good support for me to better plan out the key moment of each scenes, which would hopefully lead to a better focused narrative. I will build on the findings from this part of the folio, and continue experiment with sound, animation and triggered interactivity. I will also review the referenced works to see what techniques I have been applied into my work and what others that I can further explore in order to achieve an emerging AR experience.

Downloads:

Download File: lin-s3853891-iol-folio1.pdf